This book emanated from a series of seminars run in October 2004 with the principal aim of generating up-to-date and focused information on the current and future state of mineral nutrition in farmed animals.
The primary focus of this book is to re-examine the justification for mineral additions to animal feeds in today's society, providing an updated evaluation of requirements within the context of commercial requirements and taking into account the constraints of restrictions devised and implemented by the European Union. The area of mineral delivery to animals has also a primary focus and one that includes a consideration of the most natural and less wasteful methodologies.
As clearly identified in the book, recommendations for mineral content in the foodstuffs of farm fed animals may date back as far as the middle of the twentieth century, and the scientific data on which many of these recommendations are based are either inconclusive or more probably inadequate. The lack of regulation in this area has, however, led to concerns about the potential, if not real, threat of pollution from the excretion in animal waste of surplus amounts of minerals obtained from commercial feeds.
The book consists of sixteen chapters, beginning with a review of current standards, as devised by the National Council Recommendations for minerals, and concluding with the future of dairy farming in the European Union. The intervening chapters cover an array of topics mainly based to a greater extent on examining the relevance/importance of and clarifying what best constitutes an optimal diet for farm animals (specifically chickens, cows and sheep). The important areas of antioxidant status and immune function are also covered in some depth.
The chapters are divided broadly into a consideration of mineral nutrition in ruminants, swine and broilers, with some chapters homing in on one or more specific minerals and other chapters providing a more general overview of mineral function – a method that works well.
The general take-home message from this book is that there is simply a lack of knowledge in the area of defining mineral requirements for farm animals, and that standardised methodologies are not available to verify concisely the type and quality of commercial sources of organic minerals. In addition, the scientific data do not even appear to be available for most minerals to assess optimal requirements adequately and accurately. Indeed, the issue of optimal requirements is itself confusing in terms of deciding whether requirements should be set for optimal animal health or should be based on optimising the quality/quantity of animal product.
As a reviewer, I feel that the resolution of a couple of small issues would improve the impact of this book. The title does not clearly indicate that the book's focus is on animal nutrition, more specifically that of ruminants, broilers and swine, and there is a reasonable amount of repetition between chapters. There are also chapters that I feel are not as critical to the book as others, and a strong concluding chapter summarising the general issues associated with defining mineral nutrition is needed, as well as perhaps an indication of the perceived way forward.
This book has, however, raised a number of very relevant and important issues, which need to be taken on board by farmers, producers and legislators alike. The issue of pollution from excessive mineral addition to animal feed is a unifying theme throughout the book. This is considered by a number of authors who allude to the successful complexing of minerals with proteinates that substantially increase bioavailability and thereby lower the levels of minerals in feedstuffs. The other key subject matter to which the book frequently refers is that the area of mineral nutrition is complex, generally unregulated and dependent on such a plethora of factors that it is not possible to determine mineral requirements for animal feed.
This book will primarily appeal to animal nutritionists, but veterinarians, human nutritionists and feed producers will find much of the information relevant and topical.
